International AIDS Conference to return to San Francisco in 2020

Aaron Laxton of St. Louis, Missouri, holds up a sign in front of the White House after a march from the Washington Convention Center July 24, 2012 in Washington, DC.

Aaron Laxton of St. Louis, Missouri, holds up a sign in front of the White House after a march from the Washington Convention Center July 24, 2012 in Washington, DC.

Photo: Alex Wong, Getty Images

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The AIDS Quilt is laid out on the National Mall July 23, 2012 as part of the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC.

The AIDS Quilt is laid out on the National Mall July 23, 2012 as part of the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, DC.

Photo: KAREN BLEIER, AFP/Getty Images

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The AIDS Memorial Grove’s Circle of Friends in Golden Gate Park features names of people touched by AIDS. The International AIDS Conference hasn’t been held in S.F. since 1990.

The AIDS Memorial Grove’s Circle of Friends in Golden Gate Park features names of people touched by AIDS. The International AIDS Conference hasn’t been held in S.F. since 1990.

Photo: Amy Osborne, Special To The Chronicle

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U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) speaks with the Chronicle Editorial Board in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 12, 2018.

U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) speaks with the Chronicle Editorial Board in San Francisco, Calif. on Friday, Jan. 12, 2018.

Photo: Stephen Lam, Special To The Chronicle

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HIV AIDS activists lie on the ground as they hold placards that read "Broken promises kill no retreat fund aids" at the opening of the 18th International AIDS conference on July 18, 2010 in Vienna's Messe conference centrum. less

HIV AIDS activists lie on the ground as they hold placards that read "Broken promises kill no retreat fund aids" at the opening of the 18th International AIDS conference on July 18, 2010 in Vienna's Messe ... more

Photo: SAMUEL KUBANI, AFP/Getty Images

International AIDS Conference to return to San Francisco in 2020

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The International AIDS Conference will return to San Francisco in 2020, 30 years after the event — the world’s largest HIV/AIDS meeting — was last held in the Bay Area, organizers announced Tuesday.

After the 1990 conference in San Francisco, the United States barred all travel into the country by people with HIV. The policy was widely criticized by global leaders in HIV and public health, and the International AIDS Society refused to hold the conference in the U.S. while the ban was in place.

“It’s been all over: South Africa, Amsterdam coming up this summer. It’s been in Morocco, it’s been in Australia,” said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, who introduced the legislation that ended the ban. “I’ve been pushing for it to come to the Bay Area, because this has been the epicenter (of the AIDS epidemic) for so long.”

The last conference in San Francisco was tumultuous. Protesters in black stormed the meetings at Moscone Center to protest the ban, which had just been introduced.

At the time, HIV was viewed as a death sentence. There were no drugs to treat the virus, and people who were infected almost inevitably developed AIDS and died. Many of the conversations at the international meetings revolved around the furious hunt for drug therapies and how best to care for people with HIV and AIDS in the meantime.

In the decades since, antiviral medications have been developed that now make HIV a chronic but survivable disease, and also help prevent new infections. The global conversation has shifted toward finding a cure, and toward making sure people have access to care. In San Francisco and many other cities, campaigns are under way to stop the spread of HIV.

“It’s certainly time for San Francisco to be so proud to be hosting this conference,” said Dr. Diane Havlir, chief of the division of HIV/AIDS at San Francisco General Hospital, who co-chaired the conference in Washington, D.C.

She said HIV is still “arguably the most important epidemic of our time,” affecting 37 million people worldwide living with the disease, plus another 2 million people newly infected every year.

“We have these aspirations. We want to halt new infections, keep people with HIV living healthy lives and ultimately cure the disease,” she said. “All those make for just a fantastic gathering and meeting.”

The International AIDS Conference, which is held every other year, typically hosts about 15,000 attendees, including scientists, doctors and other health care providers as well as patients and patient advocates. This year’s meeting in Amsterdam is July 23-28.

The 2020 meeting will take place July 6-10, with events in San Francisco and Oakland, said Joe Hollendoner, chief executive of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, which helped lead the bid to bring the conference back to the Bay Area.

Lee said one advantage of bringing the conference back to the Bay Area is that local HIV/AIDS leaders — in particular from communities of color that are hardest hit by HIV — who haven’t been able to afford going to meetings in other countries will be able to join the global conversation for the first time in decades.

“There’s a whole history of why this is an important conference for people of color, who don’t get a chance to travel to the international conferences,” Lee said. “I know people in the Bay Area, they’re going to be really excited.”